Summer is here, and this is my first summer that did not end heading back to school since I graced the halls of Little Lambs Preschool some 18 or so years ago. I think that a reality check hit me when my roommate and friends all had their summer classes, and a part time job and spent their free time outside or hitting the local watering hole. Me? Summer does still bring wonderful weather, fun activities, and time with friends and family... but the carefree nature is different. I think I had to mourn the loss of my traditional summer for a little while. And just like any mourning period it eventually has to come to an end. I ended mine with the mindset that though summer would be different, it would still be filled with possibilities and memories.

Thinking back to even just the past two summers, there was an adventure in each of them. 2 years ago, I shoved all the clothes and shoes I could into two suitcases and hit up Atlanta on my first adventure on my own. I learned a few things on this adventure. One, my family means the world to me, and two, you kind find best friends anywhere. I think about that summer and the balance of who I was missing and who I was meeting, and I think in that moment I learned more about my sense of self than I ever could have at any old summer job. I learned to trust myself, and know myself, and know what it was that made me, me.

Even last summer, close to friends and family, taking on a big girl internship. I learned that I could impress the heck out of myself, and that I could surprise myself. That I could take on a mountain. To this day, I am thankful for the growth that came from last summer, and without the sense of self that I had found the summer before, I don't think I could have found that growth or responded to it the same way.

So this summer... this summer I am determined to make just as great. I am determined to make it a summer where I surprise myself, and those around me, but also where I continue to grow and become even more rooted in my sense of self. I think that this is a big task, but one that can be done. Summer is full of possibility when we are young, it is full of hope and excitement and a young, wild, and free mentality, and even as a grown up I am in search of the possibility of summer.